Clynelish 17 Years - Manager's Dram #99

DESCRIPTION

A 17 year old Clynelish 'released' as a Manager's Dram. These whisky was selected by the manager and bottles were generally given to workers and friends of the distillery, meaning that they're rather good and not all that common.

TASTING NOTES (by Whiskyfun.com)

Why I never wrote notes about this one is a total mystery, let’s fix that immediately. Colour: gold. Nose: this is different this time. When unreduced, it’s mainly milk chocolate and coffee that you get but that happens very often with very high-strength whiskies I think. Also notes of plum spirit and kirsch, beeswax, ginger, old wood and liquorice. This should be superb but the alcohol probably masks many other aromas, let’s add water immediately. With water: ah yes, this works beautifully (around 45%). The typical notes of wax and fruits woke up, as well as notes of old chenin blanc (in case you don’t know, it’s a grape variety from the Loire valley that gives excellent sweet whites that really stand the test of time), nougat, hawthorn tea, wood smoke, honey... Fantastico, really. Mouth (neat): holy featherless crow, this is almost as hot as the legendary Mannochmore from the same series. Now, it’s not impossible to get the waxy fruitiness (or fruity waxiness) that lies therein but let’s not tempt fate and add water right away. With water: again, that worked exceptionally well. Caramel toffee, smoked salmon, dried ginger, nougat, allspices, apricots... This is insanely good. Finish: you bet! Now, this is a case where water is needed almost as much as after a one-week walk in the Sahara. SGP:654 – 92 points.

PRODUCT SUMMARY